Many of you may recognise the face of David de la Haye as an electronic experimentalist and Bassist in the Monster Ceilidh Band or as a member of Jez Lowe‘s band ‘The Bad Pennies’. Despite his strong folk music credentials, he also has another passion for field recordings that take him to obscure submerged locations. Yes, you read that correctly; originally from the Channel Islands and now living in Durham, David’s work currently focuses more on exploring marine and freshwater environments through sound.
Some of his underwater recordings from the Hebrides were used for Iorram, the documentary film from Alastair Cole – a deft, subtle and strangely moving portrayal of Gaelic-speaking Hebridean fishermen. Coincidentally, the soundtrack to Iorram by Aidan O’Rourke is a Featured Album of the Month, which you can read about here.
He also recently became involved in a Land Lines Project titled Tracks, Traces and Trails: Nature Revealed. This was a collaboration between the University of Leeds and English Nature under which freelance sound artists were invited to submit soundscapes that revealed the natural world, connected people to nature and made the invisible visible. Towards the end of last year, they presented an audio exhibition that included work from the likes of Cosmo Sheldrake and David.
In his own words, David work for this project “combined the traditions of storytelling and song with contemporary field recordings to search for narratives that might revitalise our connection to the natural world.
“Specifically, it focuses on the hidden soundscape beneath the water’s surface, eavesdropping on a world beyond our usual limits of perception where sound and vibration are the primary senses that connect us deeply to our ecosystems.
“Field recordings have been traced from water bodies around the North East of England including the mudflats of Teesmouth, bays along the Durham heritage coast, nature reserves and colliery pit-ponds. In many of these locations, the remnants of an industrial past provide an unlikely backdrop to blooming natural habitats. Indeed, many of the Wildlife Trust reserves are reclaimed pit and quarry sites.
“An additional field trip to the Farne Islands in Northumberland allows us the opportunity to observe the underwater behaviour of seals and trace their route down to Teesmouth, the only intertidal mudflat between Lindisfarne to the north and the Humber to the south.”
Joining him was Jez Lowe, a singer-songwriter that many of you will know whose musical history lies in the traditions of the North East. David adds:
“I approached him to ask whether he would produce some bespoke lyrics and songs informed by the field recordings I had made. Folk Music is necessarily rooted in local geographies and landscapes. Archival recordings portray the role of musicians within their local communities and are often recorded on location, embracing natural sonic characteristics that become embodied within the recording medium.
“For the environment to play more than a supporting role in this commission. The submerged voices and actions of underwater residents became the foundation on which this music is built, suggesting a need to become more connected with marine environments and the ‘otherness’ of the natural world.
“This project is a radio ballad for aquatic lifeforms, told from the perspective of the marine-dwellers themselves about the coastal communities that rely on them.”
Below you can hear the single, also our Song of the Day, and watch a short documentary about its making. It’s available to download via Bandcamp (as a Name Your Price) here.
This is a binaural recording, so it is best listened to with headphones.
More here: https://daviddelahaye.co.uk/